Friends
Peace be with you.
Have you ever been reluctant to ask God for something in prayer? There have been times when I have felt like there is no need to ask God for prayers because the outcome was inevitable. I think this realization comes about the first time we ask for something and our request doesn’t get answered in the way we want it to. For example, a number of years ago, I made a plan with God that, if I won a large amount of money in the lottery, I would create investments in the Catholic Foundation of the Archdiocese of Dubuque so that parishes that are struggling financially, especially the smaller rural parishes I’m accustomed to pastoring, would be able to earn some interest income and possibly be able to stay open even if their weekly giving can’t keep up with expenses. I asked God to be able to make me win on a particular Saturday night when the jackpot was in the hundreds of millions of dollars. I bought one ticket with numbers that I thought were significant for me because I was certain that God knew my plan and thought it was brilliant and would help me win this money. I watched the news that night as the drawing took place…and I didn’t even get one number correct. I could have rationalized it by saying that I needed to try again next week but I didn’t. I just assumed that this wasn’t the will of God and so I stopped asking, seeking, or knocking. That probably seems at least a little superficial of a petition to start off with but I would guess many of us have asked for God to intervene in sporting events that someone might win, in plays or concerts so that your kid would remember all the lines or play his trombone perfectly, or in a party or get together so that everyone comes, has a good time, and leaves in a timely manner.
Our readings today are focused on how prayer can be an exercise in asking and seeking. I would point out that, in Luke’s version of the Our Father, which is shorter and less complex than Matthew’s, the whole point of the prayer isn’t just about asking God for stuff. We call God our Father and give honor to his name. We invite the Kingdom of God and forgive so that we may be forgiven. But, at the heart of the prayer is the petition “Give us this day our daily bread”. A commentary I read said that this is an echo of the daily bread the disciples would eat in the desert on their pilgrimage from Egypt to the Holy Land. From a Christian perspective, this bread is the Eucharist, our bread that gets us through our days, which is the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ.
The context the church provides, however, isn’t focused on sports, plays, or even the lottery. We are encouraged to ask for forgiveness of sins, despite the fact that God has no need to forgive our sins. In the parable, God is the landowner with a full belly in bed and we are the persistent neighbor asking him for bread. The word they translate as persistent can also mean shameless or audacious. We shamelessly turn to God asking for forgiveness even though he is perfect and is faithful to us even when we are unfaithful to him and our neighbor. I think that’s why there is such a strong connection between Eucharist and confession in the Catholic church, between forgiveness of sins and receiving the author of forgiveness. If we are going to receive the body of him who offers us forgiveness, we must offer forgiveness to those who have wronged us.
We know that God offers to save all the world for the sake of one good person, his son Jesus. We eat his body and drink his blood and reconcile ourselves with him. Now if we can just recognize that the most important prayer isn’t about winning the lottery but about putting God’s will above our own by seeking forgiveness and freely offering it to those who have wronged us.
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